But what is not being challenged (by the mainstream parties, at least) is whether austerity is really the way forward. This is their one real area of consensus. Since the financial crash and bailout of the banks there has been very little debate as to whether we did the right thing and what the consequences should be. Who really was to blame for what happened with the banks?
In fact, the discussion has moved on to the find that the problem wasn't the private sector banks. That they weren't the bad-guys at all - it was the bloated public sector. Yes, the real cause of the biggest financial crises in a century was not the banks that gambled on ever increasing assets prices with complex financial instruments, but doctors, nurses and school teachers. And disabled people as well because they now need to have their benefits cut.
As a result the next government, whatever party it is, will embark on the biggest cuts in public spending ever seen in the UK.
This is serious stuff and will have a major effect not only on the lives of millions of people directly impacted but also the wider economy as expenditure shrinks hitting those that depend on health contracts and government purchases, not to mention the lost spending from public sector employees.
Of course both parties have solutions, one of the most popular being the use of more efficient (cheaper) private sector firms to plug any service gaps. This is the private sector that spectacularly failed to self-regulate itself when running the banks. The private sector motivated by short-term profits and monetary self-interest. The private sector that coughs up money for political parties' campaigns.
Surely there's no connection?